Hello all fountain pen lovers!

I've always wanted to own a proper pen, and since I've been good this year I thought I should treat myself Last night I ordered a Parker Duofold International in black and gold from a Swedish online retailer. As I use pen and paper in everyday work I've also made up my mind about getting my handwriting in order, thus a copy of "Write Now: The Complete Program For Better Handwriting" and "Italic Letters: Calligraphy and Handwriting" were ordered five minutes ago...

I guess you all have a understanding of my personal goals for 2008

I'm sure I'll be asking some rather stupid and typical newbie questions in the coming weeks, but please bare with me as we're all children in the beginning. Been lurking this forum for the past weeks prior to my pen purchase, so I guess that'll spare you of the "worst" of questions...

Don't know if there's any other Vikings ( not Seattle fans that is ) in here, but I'll fore sure find out. I'm situated in Stockholm Sweden myself.

Kind regards,
Karl

Greetings Karl. Welcome to FPN!

Welcome to FPN, it should be cold now out there eh? Greetings to Santa.

And, if you like handwriting, you better gift yourself with some Vector (Parker) or Joy (Lamy). You can find both with 1.1 nibs (or wider).
But be warned: it's a tough job. (I gave up...)

Welcome!

Greetings from Seahawk country!!!
Welcome to the FPN Karl.

Jim

Thank you for the warm welcome

Yup, it's pretty cold here, at the moment it's about -10 C Long Johns are mandatory...

A first question ( I know this is probably not the right place for Q's, but ... )

What ink should I use? I'd like to get a black color, I use Paperblanks notebooks, It needs to dry quick as I take notes during client meetings and It needs to be water and fade resistant.

Quite some needs, huh?

I have a few cartridges of Parker Quink Washable Black, but I guess these are all "wrong". How about the J.Herbin Perle Noire?

Kind regards,
Karl

Karl, you said you were good this year. Was it boring? The word "good" (you should excuse the expression) is foreign to me...

Welcome Karl!! Man I wish you luck with the handwriting. I have the same pen and both books and mine isn't a bit better.... Of course, if I actually opened the books and praticed... Have fun here at FPN!!

Hi, brother in consulting... I do take notes at client meetings too but I prefer anyway "soft" inks. At the moment my preferred inks are the japanese Pilot and Sailor I got this summer in my trip to Tokyo.
To deepen this topic, go to the Inky Toughts forum

Cheers,

Welcome to FPN.

Welcome, Karl!!!
I live in the US now, but was born in Stockholm.
Well, in black inks, I like Aurora Black, probably is my favourite black ink.
Check out the ink sub-forum,and they have a lot of ink reviews and other info.

Thank you all for your nice comments and advice!

Judge my happiness when I came home from office today and found a rather big parcel on the kitchen table, my pen had arrived Oh what a lovely instrument

But, all good things has to come to an end... I ordered a International with medium nib, somehow the retailer has messed up and sent me a pen with a fine nib This was the last Duofold in stock, if I want to return it for the correct one I will have to wait 4-6 weeks - someone just went from number one to number 100 on my list...

Now, what should I do? Do you think I'm alright with a fine nib? As told before, I will use the pen daily during client meetings ( not a consultant but a ... wait for it .... here's a cliché for you ... I'm a insurance broker ... and now a insurance broker with a fountain pen )

What to do, what to do?

Kind regards,
Karl

EDIT: I've decided to keep the pen, despite the "nib mishap". I went through agonies in making the decision, but after reading some of the threads in the FAQ section I feel comfortable in my decision. What the ****, I guess I'll get another pen pretty soon anyway...

Yes, keep it!
Parker fines aren't that fine after all. Plus you will have the excuse to buy your next pen...


Cheers,

I agree with Diplomat. Western fines seem to be more medium/fine anyway. And indeed you will have to buy several more pens to see what nib width you like... after all you must take notes (fine), write letters (medium), and sign things (bold).

I like the basic Quink black. Welcome to the forum.

btw. no Vikings here on the east coast of U.S., just Patriots, Redskins, Panthers, and the Hokies!!

Welcome to FPN, Karl!

This is so true...

I have some set of handwriting books, still in the bubble wrap after a couple years.



THAT's the spirit!

Velkommen Mindstorm. Jeg er også ny med fyllepenner Ikke viking her men studerer norskhttp://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php?act=Post&CODE=02&f=31&t=47636&qpid=450460#

Karl, I'm glad you decided to keep the pen and not involve yourself in the agony of waiting the several months it surely would have taken to get this whole thing straightened out.

I think it would be wise to contact the dealer and let him/her know what happened and that you expect some sort of compensation for the mishap. After all, it was their fault and I am sure they will be anxious to please a new customer. It will be interesting to find out what they intend to do, to make up for the error.

A small update:

I received a e-mail replay from the dealer, he asked me about the serial number from the box that the pen was shipped in - not "his" box, but the paper sleeve that Parker wraps around their hard case. A rather transparent excuse if you ask me

Any way, I sent him a answer with my serial number. I also informed him that I intended to keep the pen "as is" - but kindly asked for some sort of reimbursement. Quite fair as I've still have the consumer right to cancel the purchase altogether. No replay from him for the past four days

I've started to play with the thought of sending it to Sanford UK to replace the Fine nib with a Italic Fine as I've been a good student of the books "Write Now" and "Italic Letters" by Barbara Getty & Inga Dubay ( which I highly recommend by the way!)

Any comments about Parkers Italic nibs are welcomed

Kind regards,
Karl

There are no stupid questions, just stupid pens.